San Francisco Giants Signings Put Pressure on Arizona Diamondbacks

This already looked to be a difficult offseason for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and it only figures to get tougher with the rest of the NL West division looking to improve. 

The D-Backs need to be careful here and realize that they finished the 2013 season closer to the last-place Colorado Rockies than the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The San Francisco Giants have wasted no time in rebuilding their starting rotation, first by bringing back Tim Lincecum on a two-year deal and then Monday signing former Atlanta Braves ace Tim Hudson to a two-year deal for $23 million, reported by John Shea at the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Lincecum's deal looks like an extreme overpay coming in at $35 million, but his numbers from last season actually showed improvement in WHIP with his walk numbers dropping from his poor 2012 season. There is a chance that Lincecum might continue to gradually improve if he is pitching against the other team's third or fourth starter. 

The deal for Hudson was a surprise, but it makes sense for a 38-year-old pitcher coming off of a bad injury to move into a pitcher's park. His career numbers pitching in San Francisco are 8-5 with a 3.51 ERA in 18 games. His career record of 17-7 against the rest of the teams in the division is a great sign as well. 

Assuming that Hudson returns healthy from his ankle fracture, he could really have a huge impact next season on the Giants, especially at the back-end of the Giants rotation. 

The big picture for the D-Backs is that the Giants just spent $58 million on two short-term fixes for their rotation. While the money might seem high for both pitchers, the market for veteran pitchers might simply be changing to reflect teams willing to pay more in order to avoid a longer contract. With these two pitchers added to Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, the Giants rotation suddenly looks very solid and the D-Backs look weaker by comparison. 

Arizona right now will have Patrick Corbin and potentially Archie Bradley to front next year's rotation. Veteran starters Trevor Cahill and Brandon McCarthy combined to go 13-21, and both will need to have a major rebound next year in order for the D-Backs to contend. Cahill and McCarthy count for $19.9 million against the D-Backs payroll next year. 

The Giants may still be active in the starting pitching market for another starter and have been linked to the names of Bronson Arroyo and Ryan Vogelsong to round out the rotation. Josh Johnson has expressed interest in the Giants and makes sense on a low-risk deal as well. 

The Giants look like they have already made most of their big pitching additions this winter before Thanksgiving Day, and Arizona has not even started making significant changes. 

Information used from Baseball Reference, San Francisco Chronicle, Buster Olney/ESPN, Hank Schulman/San Francisco Chronicle